Olive
by ClaudiaWrites
Summary: A fancy restaurant. An enigmatic waiter. Hazel eyes, mad hair, a dimple, and Lily's a goner.
1. Chapter 1

**Olive**

 **Chapter 1**

Disclaimer \- James and Lily are not my characters, though I sorely wish that they were.

* * *

The first time Lily meets him, it's on the night she's destined to break up with her boyfriend of six months. Quite ironically.

Brandon is the one who's made the reservation, of course. He did it in front of his friends, never one to miss an opportunity to show off what a wonderful, lovely person he is.

Lily knows otherwise.

She's seen it coming for a while now, the breakup that is. Brandon was never as tiresome as he's become now obviously, but Lily has to admit that she'd never seen much potential in him to begin with. It was only because he'd seemed so sweet initially, someone really willing to _try_ for her. She thought she could possibly overlook his gaping lack of personality and dullness.

She could snort at that now.

He tried as much as a sloth, perhaps even worse.

He forgot her birthday, made her cancel her plans for him and slept with his shoes on.

And despite being quite well off himself, Lily almost always found herself paying his bills, even on dates.

She didn't mind it all that much, given that she was quite the strong, head-fast modern woman, a firm believer of gender equality and shared responsibilities and whatnot. But she'd once _seen_ money in his wallet when he'd claimed to have had none on him at that moment, and that was just absurd.

Lily hated liars.

Money was the least of her issues though. Brandon was phony to boot—he almost never texted her, and she was quite sure he didn't actually care for her either. He just loved boasting about her around his friends, often heard him say 'oh I can't take my eyes off her sometimes, she's so beautiful', which might have warmed Lily's heart if it weren't for the fact that she could sense the falseness in his voice from miles away.

It was inevitable.

Destiny, some might say.

So that night, when Lily enters some fancy ass restaurant named _Elia,_ one she's sure Brandon's friends had been boasting about, she isn't the least bit surprised by the events that follow.

No sooner have they seated themselves on the posh-looking chairs that Brandon turns to her with comically wide eyes as if the thought has _just_ occurred to him now, when they're already inside and a server is walking towards their table purposefully, and says, "Shoot! I forgot my wallet again. I swear I get clumsier by the day. Would you be a doll and take care of the cheque tonight, Lily? I promise to pay you back."

She pastes a sweetly-sick smile on her face, one which any bloke who knows a whit about her would see it for what it was. A red signal. "Sure," she replies.

But Brandon remains oblivious, seemingly satisfied with having gotten that out of the way, and goes back to his phone, his conversation with Lily apparently over for the night.

Lily glares daggers at him, feeling her red-headed temper rush to her head. But then she takes a deep breath and turns to the waiter standing patiently near their table…

Only to find the most alluring pair of hazel eyes she's ever seen staring back at her with amusement.

The blood from her head suddenly rushes to her cheeks, heating her face. Lily blinks. And blinks again.

As if doing that would somehow prove that her eyes were being deceitful and he's not the most handsome man she's ever encountered.

"Good evening, ma'am," he greets her, his voice just as amused as his eyes and sending all sorts of wrong feelings to her stomach. _Wrong_ because she's quite sure the sensations aren't at all normal to be induced in her within a five second span.

He looks to be in his early twenties, around her own age, give or take a year. He wears a pair of rectangular shaped glasses, his body lean, almost a little lanky, but unfairly fit. His hair though…it's like nothing she's ever seen—a chaotic mess of black strands which just beg to touched and pulled and…

Lily coughs then, realizing that she's been staring openly and feels mortified when his lips tilt up into a smirk. "Good evening," she finally replies.

"What would you like to have?"

Lily hums contemplatively, scanning the menu for a while before responding. "I'll go with—"

"Bring a plate of the garlic and butter lobster along with a plate of risotto," Brandon says loudly, cutting her off.

Lily rolls her eyes, long used to such behavior from him. It's not even that he does it maliciously; he's just never paying enough attention to care about what she wants.

"What would you like to have, then?" The waiter speaks again, even louder, not even acknowledging Brandon's presence, and Lily's head snaps to him in surprise. Her jaw drops open, as does Brandon's.

But the man continues to stare at her with a pleasant smile, as if nothing out of the ordinary has happened, and Lily can't help it.

She laughs.

It's only a single burst of uncontrolled laughter, but it's enough.

He grins back at her, revealing a breathtakingly-scrummy dimple on his left cheek and a set of perfect white teeth. It's almost enough to make her disregard Brandon's offended gasp as he turns to her.

Almost.

So Lily schools her features back to normal, trying to look sober for his sake, but she can't find it in herself to be _quite_ as contrite as she should be. "Sorry," she tells Brandon feelingly, and then turns to the waiter, keeping her voice smooth, "And I'll have a grilled chicken salad with extra olives, please."

The man notes down her order with an enigmatic smile on his face. "Interesting," he murmurs, so low that Lily isn't sure she actually heard it.

But before she can ask him what he means, Brandon cuts her off.

"What's your name?" He all but snarls, glaring at the man. Lily's eyebrows shoot up at his tone. "I ought to complain to your manager—treating your customers with disrespect like that! Just see if I don't."

The man frowns. "James Potter," he replies, his voice sounding bored despite his irate expression.

Lily bites her lip, really unwilling to create a scene at the restaurant, and—though she doesn't want to admit it to herself—not wanting this stupidly reckless yet absolutely charming man to get into trouble because of Brandon, of all people.

So she shakes her head, placing her hand gently on Brandon's, and forcing him to look at her. He pauses in his gloating, his satisfied smirk of 'ha! I've got you now!' slipping away as he turns to her. "Let's just leave it," she whispers to him.

To her surprise though, Brandon shakes her hand off, huffing out an annoyed breath. "No I can't just 'leave it', Lily! This—this lowly waiter dared to insult me!"

Lily's eyes flit worriedly over, but James Potter looks completely unbothered, staring back at Brandon dryly. He catches her eye then, and though Lily might have imagined it, she's quite sure he _winks_ at her.

Dear God.

Her face burning, she quickly looks back at Brandon, who seems to not have noticed what just transpired. Lily isn't surprised. "I'm sure he didn't mean it, Brandon, you don't have to be quite so rude—"

" _I'm_ being rude?" He all but screeches, blue eyes narrowing, and Lily feels her irritation growing. Granted, she understands that his pride was wounded, but Lily can't sympathize with him, not really. Not after having spent evenings upon evenings being ignored for his friends and his phone.

Someone coughs loudly, and Lily looks up to find James looking uncomfortable now, clearly realizing this was not something he wanted to be witnessing. She felt embarrassed too, face reddening again.

"Can we have two glasses of Merlot, please?" she asks for his benefit, and he smiles at her in relief.

"Sure, I'll get it right away," he replies, and Lily knows well enough that his 'right away' is probably closer to 'never, thanks'. She expects him to bolt immediately, but to her surprise, he half-turns towards Brandon, and though she can see that it pains him to do so, he apologizes to her boyfriend.

"I'm sorry for my rude behavior, sir," he says and simply walks away upon not getting a response. Lily's certain she catches him rolling his eyes once he's turned away, and has to rein in her laughter again.

"What a ponce," Brandon barks, capturing her attention again, and she frowns.

"He apologized," Lily says patiently.

"Ha! He _had_ to. I had him by the throat."

"Or maybe he was just doing the right thing. Selflessly," Lily grits out, sipping on water from her glass.

"Why are you taking his side, Lily?" Brandon asks, frowning.

She raises her eyebrows at him. "I'm not taking his side, I'm just being reasonable. You're dragging this on unnecessarily."

"I'm your boyfriend! You should be agreeing with me, no matter what!"

Lily wants to really let him have it then. _Should be_ he says.

"I'm surprised you're even bothering to convince me right now," is what she says instead. "Regardless, if you'd bothered to know me at all, Brandon, you'd know that that's not the kind of person I am."

"What's gotten your knickers into a twist today?" He says bitterly.

And then she loses it.

Her green eyes flash in anger as she looks at him, and Brandon has the good sense to look worried. She can see that he wants to take back his words, but it's too late now. "First of all,I've had _my knickers in a twist_ for quite a while now, but you wouldn't know, would you? And second of all, what's stuck up _your_ arse, Brandon? Why does it feel so bad when you're treated the same way that you treat others?"

"I don't understand what you mean—"

"I mean how you're the biggest hypocrite I've ever met!" Lily fumes, "You've spent all this time talking over me, ignoring my presence, except when you're not busy _flaunting_ me to your friends like I'm an object and not a living, breathing person. And the worst part is that you don't see any of it! Don't see how it's _wrong_ and hurtful."

"Now, listen here, Lily, I'm not—"

" _And_ ," she holds her hand up, stopping his no-doubt unintelligible argument, "I _saw_ you leave your wallet in the car deliberately, so don't pretend otherwise."

She has him there. She knows that he knows it when his face flushes horribly and he sputters, flustered. "I—I didn't—I must've forgotten—"

Lily's loud sigh breaks him off though. "It's over, Brandon. It has been for a while."

" _What_?!" He squawks, having the audacity to actually look surprised. Lily wants to laugh at his face. "You can't just—just—"

"You don't even _love_ me! We just don't work, don't you see it?"

"We could. We really could," He says meekly then, not even bothering to deny her accusation. They both know it's true.

Lily sighs again, gentler this time, and gives him a sad smile. "I'm sorry, Brandon. You're a nice guy, but we're just not right for each other."

"I understand," he replies, and Lily really hopes that he doesn't cry because she wouldn't know what to do then.

To her relief though, he stands up, gives her an awkward nod, turns around and leaves.

Just like that.

She stares at his retreating back for a while, stumped, before falling back against her chair with a relieved giggle. God, what a strange man she was dating. She couldn't believe she'd held on for as long as she had.

Lily suddenly feels her spirits lift, and with a cheerful smile on her lips, she picks her phone and dials a number, deciding that she doesn't want to be alone tonight.

She wants to celebrate.

* * *

 **A/N** \- Hello, lovely people! I'm back from the dead. Please do leave some reviews for me on this chapter, and tell me how you like it so far.

Lots of love,

Claudia


	2. Chapter 2

**Olive**

 **Chapter 2**

Disclaimer – If there's an actual bakery named Cherry on Top, then I'd like to say that it's a very cool name and I'm sorry I stole it.

* * *

"See you," Lily hangs up, a bright smile on her face as she puts her phone back into her purse, feet tapping softly with the melody floating through the restaurant.

She rests her chin on her hand and glances around, noticing how great the place was for the first time since she'd entered. It was clearly posh and fancy, but there was no air of formality about it. People were laughing and chatting quite boisterously as they ate their food.

She notices a few more waiters rushing from table to table, a couple of them catching her attention.

A sandy-haired man, who looks vaguely familiar to Lily, smiles down at a little girl seated with her family as she places her order. There's exhaustion lining his face, as if he's in need of a good night's sleep, but he seems quite at peace with himself. There's another man bustling about—taller, with shoulder length black hair which is pulled back into a neat ponytail. He has a brooding look about him as he carries a tray full of food past Lily, although the expression does little to hamper his uncannily beautiful face. His grey eyes may have momentarily flickered in her direction, though she can't be sure.

She sighs, spacing out for a second. Or for what she _thinks_ is a second.

When she finds a tanned hand waving in front of her face, Lily promptly jumps in surprise.

She looks up to find James Potter's devilishly handsome face looking down at her.

"Uh…sorry?" she says, cheeks blushing pink.

"Didn't mean to scare you," he chuckles, placing down two glasses and a bottle of wine on the table. He begins pouring the red liquid, his hands skilled and quick. "Where's your date?"

"Left. We broke up."

That stops him short, hand stilling over the second empty glass. "What?"

Lily shrugs, smiling pleasantly as she rests her chin against her propped up hand. "We broke up. Just now."

He seems at a loss for words, and Lily wants to laugh.

"And…you're okay?"

"More than okay," She grins, gesturing towards the wine for him to continue pouring. "I'm great. I've been waiting to dump him for a while now."

James laughs. "I'd tell you that it's not a very nice thing to say, but I saw the bloke, and I don't blame you."

"Glad you agree."

He grins at her again, sending the butterflies in her stomach on a rampage.

He sets down the bottle of wine then, and extends his hand towards her. "Hi, I'm James."

She reaches forward and shakes it eagerly, though not _too_ eagerly because she doesn't want to come across as absolutely mental, now, does she? "Hello, James, I'm Lily. Lily Evans. It's been a pleasure meeting you."

"Believe me," he implores, hazel eyes sparkling, "the pleasure's all mine."

"Oh no," Lily shakes her head, trying to ignore the disconcerting feelings he arouses in her. "You don't know how much you've contributed in helping me pull off this impending break-up tonight."

"You know, most girls would be upset with a bloke who had a hand in ruining their relationship."

"I'm not most girls though."

"No, you aren't," he agrees immediately, and Lily can't help the blush that steals across her face again. Oh, the woes of being a redhead.

She coughs, trying to hide behind her curtain of hair when she notices him smirking unabashedly. He's a shameless flirt, and Lily isn't usually such a mess for the kind, but _this_ boy…

"Aren't you going to get in trouble?" she asks, changing the topic none too subtly. "For, you know, lingering here?"

"Would you rather I didn't?" James asks pleasantly enough, though Lily's quite sure she catches something like disappointment flash in his eyes for a second, and now she feels like a complete cow.

"No!" she all but barks. At his surprised expression, she lowers the vehemence down a notch. "I mean, no, not at all. It's lovely to talk to you, I'm just worried that you'll get into trouble—not that I don't—I mean, if it were up to _me_ , I'd invite you to sit here with me, but obviously I can't do that." She's blabbering now, an awkward-as-hell laugh slipping out of her lips. She knows it, feels the mortification bubble up inside her, but now the words are out and _God_ , why does he have to look so good?!

She'd invite him to sit with her, apparently.

Of course she would.

Might as well ask him to marry her right away, while she's at it.

"I could," James replies at length, and Lily just barely manages to keep her jaw from hitting the floor. "That is, of course, if you weren't kidding. And if you were, I just made this really weird and should just go inside and find myself a bucket of water to drown in."

Lily laughs, shaking her head. "I wasn't kidding. But—are you _sure_? I mean, aren't you technically supposed to be working?"

"They _do_ depend on my marvelous waiting skills a lot, yes," James shrugs, easily slipping into the empty chair beside her, "but I think they can manage for a few minutes without me."

Lily feels her heart pound loudly against her chest—so loud that she's sure it borders on unhealthy, but it's really inevitable because he's this close to her and…and…

She didn't think it possible, but this man is just painfully handsome to look at.

His eyes are even better up close, his hair even crazier, and she must be absolutely bonkers because she's never seen anyone else pull of a white shirt and bow-tie quite so well.

Some part of her knows, acknowledges, that this is _wrong_ , and she shouldn't be feeling this way because impending or not, she _did_ just break-up with someone, and decent dating protocol—which she's sure is definitely a thing—commands that you can't just jump someone's bones barely fifteen minutes after you've entered into the single market again.

"So, what do you do, Lily?" James asks her, and she blinks, coming out of her reverie.

"Er…I'm a baker, actually. I own a bakery a few blocks down. Cherry on Top, if you've heard of it."

"You _own_ Cherry on Top?" James gapes at her. At Lily's nod, he grins broadly and whistles. "That's quite a feat, Evans. One of my mates loves your bakery. Won't stop going on about the _pain au chocolat_ there."

She knows just how brilliant her bakery is, of course. Prides herself on her baking skills immensely, in fact. But hearing it from James…

"Thank you," Lily blushes, "but you saying that about your mate means that you don't feel quite the same way about my _pain au chocolat_. Or have you never tried one, despite your friend's praises for it?"

"Guilty," James says, and looks it too. "But now that I know the beautiful baker behind the touted creations, nothing can stop me from getting to them."

Lily's hearts flutters wildly at his words, both because he's thrown out the word _beautiful_ so casually out there when referring to her—as if it's nothing more than a fact, and not a subjective opinion, and also because she can actually expect to meet him again after tonight instead of forcing herself to let him fade away from her memories.

Not that she could ever forget someone like James Potter.

"I think I'd like that," she answers softly, and James's answering smile knocks her breath away.

"I never knew you moved so fast, Lily. I'm quite impressed."

Lily looks up at the sound of that voice, finding her best friend, Mary Macdonald, standing near their table with a shit-eating grin on her face. Mary flips her dark, straight hair over her shoulder and openly sizes up James.

"Hmm, quite an improvement too. _Much_ better than basic Brandon, any day."

"Thank you," James says.

"You're welcome."

If there was ever going to be an opportune moment for the earth to crack open and swallow her up, Lily knows this would be it.

"Oh my God, Mary, this isn't—he isn't—" she shakes her head, turning to James instead. "I'm so sorry, James. Mary's a little inappropriate—"

"I don't mind."

"Yeah, Lily, _James_ doesn't mind."

Good God, was she the only sane one here?

"James?!" another voice interrupts her distressing thoughts, and now it's the tired-looking waiter from before who Lily can _swear_ she's seen before, but he only stares at James with an aghast expression. "What are you— _why_ are you sitting there? Honestly, James—"

Lily's heart gives a guilty little tug as James lets out a long-suffering sigh, finally getting out of his chair and offering it to Mary, who takes it with a jaunty spring to her legs.

"Oh, please don't report him to the manager," Lily implores the other man, who finally ceases glaring at James long enough to look at her. "I asked him to join me while I was waiting for my friend, Mary here. I understand that it's probably against the policies, but I'd really hate for there to be trouble because of me."

The man blinks, his eyes a clear blue color, and despite his fatigue, she notes that he's quite good-looking. She fleetingly wonders if the restaurant hires its staff from a modeling agency.

"I…wasn't going to report him," he answers eventually.

"Oh. Well, thank you."

She notices that he turns to James with a peculiar expression on his face, but James simply smiles back at him enigmatically, like they're sharing some private joke.

As if sensing her stare on him, James turns back to her and his eyes widen in sudden realization. "Lily, this is Remus, the friend I was telling you about," he grins, turning to look at Remus. "This is Lily, mate. She's the mastermind baker at Cherry on Top. Owns the place."

She wants to sigh in relief at finally having her curiosity over the man's identity satiated—because of _course_ she's seen him at the shop a couple of times—but is quite distracted by Remus's onslaught of compliments which he bestows upon her.

By the time he's done, Lily's quite certain that her ego has taken an unhealthy rise up the ladder.

"I was wondering where I'd seen you when you walked in," Remus confesses, a delighted smile, which makes him look younger, stretching across his face. "It's usually someone else at the counters, but of course, I remember catching a glimpse of you once or twice now."

Lily laughs, nodding. "I felt the same, actually."

"You guys should stop by," Mary, who has been suspiciously quiet until now, speaks up. She smiles like a heathen at the men. "At the bakery, I mean. Both of you."

Lily wonders if Mary has always had the subtlety of an elephant, or if it's some new-found talent of hers that has come up just to bite Lily in the arse.

"Oh, we're already going to," James beams at Mary, "Lily and I already discussed it."

"Is that right, Lily?" Mary's dark, knowing gaze slides to Lily, and she simply replies with a flat stare in response. "I'm so proud of you."

Yes, Lily completely regrets calling up her best friend now.

"What in fuck's name is going on here?" Yet another person joins the melee, and Lily notices that it's the brooding-yet-uncannily-handsome waiter from before. Mary ogles him shamelessly, like Lily knew she would. "I can't wait the whole fucking restaurant by myself, you know. And Peter's losing his shit in the kitchen right now, James, so can you please get the fuck inside—"

"Stop _swearing_ here," Remus hisses to the man under his breath. He turns to Lily and Mary with a wince on his face, "sorry 'bout that."

They wave the apology off with an amused smile.

"This is Sirius Black, and he's prone to dramatics," James says by way of explanation. "We _do_ have more waiters here."

Lily gives Sirius a warm, welcoming smile, which he reciprocates with a displeased frown.

Huh.

James shoots Sirius a glare for that, but turns back to her with a knee-jerking grin again. "Well, Evans, I'm sorry to say this, but he does have a point. I suppose this is as far as they can go without me, so I'll have to take your leave for now."

Lily feels disappointment settle thick and heavy in her gut, but nods understandingly because no one else can know what a loon she is.

Except maybe Mary, who won't stop giving her sly, creepily-insightful stares.

"Of course," Lily says, ignoring her friend. "And I'm sorry again, for keeping you here like this. All of you."

Sirius snorts derisively, but the others ignore him, saying their goodbyes pleasantly.

Once they've left, Mary immediately turns to her, eyebrows wiggling.

"Not now, please," Lily groans, and her friend pouts.

"Fine. But later, when we're back at the apartment."

"Alright," Lily sighs. She chews on her lip, turning to look at Mary properly. "Did you feel it too? Sirius's anger towards me?"

"The only thing I felt from that boy was pheromones, like his body was calling to me."

"Mary."

"Ugh, you take all the fun out of life, Lily, but no I don't think he was _angry_ with you, he just wasn't particularly warm either."

"I wonder why that is."

"Like you _need_ any more warmth," Mary pokes her on the ribs, earning a small yelp, "You got plenty of that from _James_ , didn't you?"

Lily's face heats up as if on cue, and she shushes Mary, reminding her not to bring this up again until later, even though…

Even though.

Oh blast it, who's she kidding? She _loved_ it—loved all the flirting, his dorky, charming smile, and even his stupidly reckless behavior.

But she keeps that information to herself, lest it all be only one-sided, and James doesn't deem her worthy enough for a second meeting.

Their food is shortly brought out to them by a pudgy little blonde waiter, his eyes watery blue and hands moving unsteadily fast, as if he's constantly nervous. Lily wants to ask him if he needs help with anything, but refrains.

"Enjoy your food," he squeaks, and immediately scampers away.

Lily takes a bite out of her grilled chicken, and she's sure beyond doubt that this is the best grilled chicken she's ever had in her entire life. Even Mary, who had been apprehensive about trying what Brandon had ordered, moans throughout the meal and leaves not a single morsel of food uneaten.

They don't see James throughout the rest of the meal, although they catch glimpses of Sirius and Remus rushing about.

Lily ignores her dashed hopes, talking pleasantly with Mary and telling her about the breakup, although she's not fool enough to think that Mary doesn't notice the disappointment in her eyes.

To her credit, Mary doesn't point it out.

When their bill arrives, Lily is surprised that the amount is a lot more affordable than she'd expected, and leaves a larger tip than she generally would.

That night, while she lies in bed, Lily wonders whether dining at _Elia_ every night for the rest of her life would certify her as a besotted fool or not.

* * *

 **A/N** \- You can find me on tumblr as maraudersftw

Leave some reviews guys, they make my day. Lots of love to you.

Claudia


	3. Chapter 3

**Olive**

 **Chapter 3**

The second time Lily meets him, she smells like chocolates and bread, and it's two weeks after the first time.

"Here's your ganache."

Lily turns around upon hearing the voice, hand extended to collect the bag of icing from Marlene McKinnon, her only full-time employee at Cherry on Top, with a quick thanks. The petite girl with strawberry blonde hair throws her a pleased smile, before gracefully spinning on her feet and running back out of the kitchen to tend to customers.

Lily sighs, wiping the back of her hand across her forehead, quite aware that her face is more than likely covered with flour dust and powdered sugar, if not more ingredients.

It's a Friday night, one of their busiest days of the week on account of people generally losing all self-control by the time weekend rolls around, and aimlessly throwing parties with uncalled-for extravagance. Lily can't complain, obviously, as these parties are what keep her shop flourishing most of the time. And yet, on days such as these, she feels grossly understaffed.

She and Marlene can manage perfectly fine most of the time—with Lily baking in the kitchen and Marlene greeting customers—and it's _even_ better when Mary stops by after her Zumba classes to lend a hand, but sometimes, it's just too much for the two of them to bear alone. Like today, when Mary is away on an office retreat and Lily's hands ache from all the icing she's done.

God knows she can definitely afford another employee, what with all the profit the bakery makes now, but it seems quite a waste of resources when it's only on the weekends that the girls find themselves short of hands.

It's a decision Lily knows she has to make soon, because even though Marlene doesn't say it, Lily can tell how much the exhaustion wears her out.

She pushes all these thoughts to the back of her mind presently, and after a deep breath, carefully squeezes out an intricate design on her truffle cake with a skilled hand. The ganache has the perfect taste and consistency—she needs to raise Marlene's salary—and after a final flourish, Lily steps back to admire her work.

With a satisfied nod, she sets a few pieces of freshly cut strawberries on top of the cake, wipes the extra chocolate batter from around the dish, and carefully lifts the creation before putting it aside for the next morning's display.

She checks the clock on the opposite wall (eight p.m.) and washes her hands, doing some quick calculation to determine by what time she needs to be asleep so that she can arrive at the bakery early and restock the required goods. This isn't a problem for her, because she's strategically taken an apartment with Mary just a couple of blocks away, and has the ease of traveling on her side.

Lily then collects a bowl, pipes out the remaining ganache from the plastic bag into it, and carries the chocolate cream and her leftover strawberries out to the front of the store.

Poor Marlene is slouched into her chair behind the counter by then, looking entirely exhausted as she closes the register and turns around to give Lily a tired smile.

"Good business today," she says.

"All thanks to you," Lily replies, setting down the two bowls on the counter, before walking over to the front door and switching over the sign so that it reads 'CLOSED'.

"So," Marlene says once Lily has settled herself beside her, "How're you dealing with the breakup?"

"Ugh," she groans, "Don't even get me started, it's been a nightmare."

"Really? I thought you were the one to break it off? Liberating and all that?"

"Oh yeah, don't get me wrong, best decision ever," Lily says, popping a chocolate covered strawberry into her mouth. She chews for a while before explaining, "It's just, Brandon won't stop texting me. I'd thought it was a pretty clean break, but turns out it took him a while to understand."

"Men," Marlene nods sagely, "Naturally dense creatures."

"Tell me about it."

"Hey!" Marlene slaps the counter in excitement, her blue eyes bright with sudden glee. "What about that waiter you were talking about awhile back? He seemed to have done a number on you."

Lily's heart gives a sad little thump at the reminder, and she can't help the disappointment that takes over her face. "Yeah well," she says with no little amount of bitterness, "clearly I was the only one who had 'a number done on them'" her fingers making air quotes around the phrase.

"Aw, honey," Marlene coos, "He's an idiot if he didn't fall in love with you immediately."

"I mean _obviously_ that's not what I was expecting!" Lily says, gesturing wildly with her hands now that the dam has been broken, "But like, I couldn't have been the only one to feel, what d'you call it?—the _click_ , that's it!—I couldn't have been the only one to feel the click. I'm pretty sure he'd been flirting with me for a while there. And then… _nothing_? He didn't make any attempt to stop by or contact me? I mean, not that I'd given him my number, but, still he could've…"

She trails off slowly, her green eyes pinching in concentration as her gaze catches on something outside the shop, before slowly widening in surprise.

"Totally, I agree with—" Marlene breaks off, realizing that Lily's no longer speaking. She tilts her head to the side upon finding the redhead staring off into space. "Lily?"

"Holy shit, what are the chances?" Lily whispers, the half-eaten strawberry in her hand plopping down into the bowl of ganache. And then she's pushing her stool back with a screech, and rushing over to the window with an exasperated laugh. "Oh my _God_ , you ridiculous man!"

"Who? What— _oh!_ " She hears Marlene exclaim, but can't turn around to gauge her expression, because it's _him_. He's here!

James.

He'd had his face plastered against the window to catch her attention in the first place, and of course—like any _sane_ person—Lily was more than a little creeped out, especially since she could hardly decipher who it was on account of the glass distorting his face.

And then he'd pulled back and given her such a bright, happy grin, waving madly and looking entirely _too_ pleased at having accomplished his goal, like this was an entirely normal means of greeting someone, that it'd taken her but a second to rediscover how her heart tended to soar around him and his antics.

 _Of course_ he'd had his face stuck to the window.

Mary would've had a field day had she been there to witness the exchange.

Lily quickly unlocks the door now, and holds it open to let James inside.

He gives a sheepish little smile as he passes by her, and Lily can't help the small swoop her stomach makes at the gesture. She closes the door again before turning around to face him.

"Umm, hey," he says with a small wave. "Sorry about that, the sign read closed, so I was just checking to see if you were still inside."

"Hi, you," Lily smiles back, obsessively running her hands over her apron to rid them of any chocolate residue. "It's fine, don't apologize. Pretty effective method of catching someone's attention, I must say. I'll have to try it someday."

"You should. Sirius does it all the time. It's fail-safe."

"So, how come you're here on a Friday? Isn't the restaurant supposed to be like, packed right now?"

"Not a problem," James waves off, "I rarely ever take days off, and the uh—owner—she was happy to oblige."

"Well, you _are_ their best employee after all."

"Hopeless, the lot of them," James agrees, a lopsided smile stretching across his face.

She doesn't know how long they stand there like that, staring and grinning at each other silently until Marlene clears her throat, jerking Lily out from her mental appreciation of James's eyes and his hair and that small smile that leaves behind the ghost of a dimple on his cheek. "Oh, right, um, James, this is Marlene McKinnon. Marlene, James."

"Good to finally meet you," Marlene says by way of greeting, her hand outstretched towards him.

"Finally?" James quirks an eyebrow at her questioningly as he makes his way over to shake her hand. He turns around to give Lily a look—which inevitably makes her neck grow warm—before turning back to address Marlene again. "I was almost scared Lily would've forgotten all about me by now."

"Not a chance," Marlene grins with evil delight even as Lily mimes running her finger across her throat to threaten her from behind James. "Especially since she won't stop going on and on about the spectacular food at _Elia._ "

"Wow, that's very kind of Lily," James turns around again to throw a _wink_ at her _—_ and effectively send her to an early grave with it—before walking to the counter to stare at the baked goods with childish delight. "But seeing as you both manage this entire place all by yourselves, and do a splendid job at that, _Elia_ doesn't hold a candle to Cherry on Top."

Lily is grateful that his back is turned towards her as he examines a batch of cupcakes, because not only can she freely admire how fine his bum is from this angle ( _very_ fine), but she's also at a perfect vantage point to see Marlene mouth the words 'HE'S SO HOT' to her.

'I KNOW RIGHT?' She mouth backs, and quickly morphs her expression back to politely-nonchalant when James turns around to face her again.

She doesn't quite know what to do with her hands, and spends a second or two moving them about lamely, before finally noticing that the boy in front of her is staring at her expectantly.

"Um," she says, "Did you say something? Do you want a cupcake?"

She could slap herself as soon as the words leave her mouth, because regardless of what his face-plastered-against-the-window endeavor might've looked like, James is _not_ a five-year old child asking for sweets at her shop. _Obviously_ that's not what he'd said, and it becomes glaringly obvious when he chuckles at her, his cheeks a bit pink.

Marlene barely suppresses her own giggles as she looks at Lily pityingly.

"No, I asked if you were free right now to, you know, hang out for a bit?" James says, looking adorably flustered as he runs a hand through his hair.

Quite inconsiderate of him, given that he should know how much _Lily_ wants to run her hands through his hair as well.

"Sure!" She finds her voice eventually, feeling the tell-tale warmth of a blush creep towards her face again. Her stomach is a sudden knot of excitement and nervousness, and she doesn't bloody know what to do with so many limbs now. Which way is she supposed to move? What is casual? What is she? "Sure, lemme just—"

"Your apron, Lil?" Marlene helps out, looking very much like she'll burst out laughing the moment they're out the door, but Lily is immensely grateful to her nonetheless. Even _more_ grateful that it's her and not _Mary_ , who would've thrown all tactfulness to the wind, and cackled her way through the entire interaction while simultaneously giving James a play-by-play of every embarrassing moment of Lily's life since her birth.

But presently Lily doesn't have to worry about any of this, and simply shrugs out of her apron with adoration shining in her eyes as she looks at Marlene. Now she's _definitely_ raising her pay.

"I owe you one," Lily whispers to her as she passes on the apron. "But quick, tell me, do I smell like eggs and sweat?"

Marlene promptly does a subtle smell-check and gives her a confident shake of the head. "Only bread and vanilla, you queen," she whispers back.

"Ready?" James asks her as Lily steps towards him, and she nods in response.

"Hey, Lil!" Marlene calls, making Lily turn around. But her friend just looks at her contemplatively for a second before shaking her head with a secretive smile. "Never mind, have fun! And don't do anything I wouldn't!"

* * *

"So," James says once they're a block away from the bakery and Lily's cheeks are no longer burning. He's staring at her unabashedly, a delighted smile on his beautiful face. "You liked the food at _Elia_?"

"I did," she agrees easily, "Would've told you so myself if I'd _seen_ you afterwards."

"Right. About that," James runs a hand through his hair, and his eyes dart away as if in embarrassment. "I wasn't sure, if—y'know, it was the right thing to do immediately after—"

"After I broke up with my boyfriend at your workplace?"

"Pretty much, yeah." He chuckles, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his pants. "Remus may have mentioned once or twice or a million times that there's a certain etiquette to these things."

"Certain etiquette to what?" Lily bumps her side against his shoulder. "To going on a walk?"

"A walk, sure," he nods compliantly, the tips of his ears a little red as he throws her a meaningful look. "I've heard that it's generally a starting point for things. _Good_ things."

Lily bites her lip around a shy grin, and thinks that she might hurl from all the ruckus that the butterflies in her stomach are creating. But she doesn't know what to reply to his heart-breakingly sweet insinuation without coming off as entirely too eager and loony.

And so, "Are you hungry?!" she barks instead.

"What?" James tilts his head to the side, his mouth twisted into amused confusion.

Lily wills the ground to open up and swallow her whole, but when it becomes apparent that nothing of the sort is going to happen, she decides to go with the flow. "Are you hungry? I know this great pizza place on the next block. It's right next to my apartment."

She wants to die.

 _She wants to die_ because she _really_ did not need to add that last part. Now James must think she's inviting him in—and Mary's off on her retreat and she cannot _deal_ with the way that'll look—and while the message it sends is not too far off from where Lily's feelings are straying, she knows for a fact that James is more than a one-night stand for her.

She isn't even sure if this is a date yet— _is it a date? Oh, dear God—_ but she wants to do this proper. The old-fashioned way.

James, luckily enough, doesn't notice the internal monologue she continues to have, and _thankfully_ enough, doesn't comment on the location of her living arrangements or any unsaid implications Lily had the gall to drop.

"Let's go then." He grins, "For future references, however, I know this great restaurant named _Elia_ a few blocks down, too. A little pretentious, but the food is okay, I hear."

"Oh yeah, I tried it just the other day. Were it not for a ridiculously brash waiter, it would've been definitely worth considering."

"Really? I've heard he's quite the charming guy though."

"Hmm," Lily sucks on her tooth as they stroll down the streets, "that's what he'd like to think."

James sighs, looking entirely too forlorn for the situation. "Sirius will be devastated to know that's what you think of him."

She can't help the chuckle that bursts forth at that, and she finds James smiling softly at her when she catches his eye again. His hand suddenly reaches out to touch her face then, and Lily is quite certain that she's forgotten the basics of breathing.

In. Out. In. Out.

But his forefinger simply makes a long, soft stroke against her cheekbone, and he pulls back to show her the tip of his finger coated in white. "Just a bit of sugar," He explains.

Lily vaguely remembers Marlene stopping her to say something as they were leaving, but ultimately deciding against it. She can only pay half-attention to the side of her brain that realizes that Marlene must've planned for something exactly like this to happen, however, because James's smile slowly morphs into a smirk.

The dimple on his cheek becomes more pronounced as he promptly licks away the condiment and smiles at her pleasantly, as if he's done nothing out of the ordinary. "Sweet."

Lily suddenly feels like her body is on fire, her face, her legs, her neck, _everywhere_ , because if that's not the most fucking turned on she's ever been by just a gesture—

"We're here!" She squeaks, squeals, cries, _something_ , because she's certain that she's steaming right there on the street and it's visible. "Here, here, this is the place," she says unnecessarily, sure beyond doubt that she looks like a nutcase now, but she can't seem to stop.

"Lily," James chuckles, coming to stand beside her. He points upwards at the sign that reads 'Pizza Kitchen' in a loopy script. "I see it."

"Right, of course." She nods, and walks in while continuing to spout gibberish. Luckily, the place looks to be empty for the time being and Lily doesn't have to let the entire city know that she's a puddle for the man next to her. "Do you like pepperoni? It's amazing here. I can never get enough of it. What's your favorite pizza? Are you vegan? Not judging, just asking."

"I—no. Not a vegan," he answers on an amused exhale, and Lily wishes she could just _stop,_ but all she can remember is the sugar and the licking and…great, she's warm again. "Pepperoni is good."

"Good good," she nods like a broken doll. She turns around to look at the pizzeria employee. "Good, so, we'll take a large pepperoni pizza, extra cheese. And extra olives. You like olives, right, James?"

"Love them."

"Good, good."

 _Stop._

The employee takes their order and passes it on to the kitchens while James and Lily make themselves comfortable around an empty table.

"Are you alright?" He asks with a hesitant smile, and Lily can see that she has actually scared him. "If I made you uncomfortable or something—"

"No!" She yelps, smacking herself inwardly for making him feel that way. She takes a deep breath, reaches out and squeezes his hand reassuringly, "No, James, you didn't. Honestly. I'm just—a little overwhelmed."

"Overwhelmed?"

"Well, you know what I mean."

"Well, in that case, I'm on the same boat."

"Ha!" She can't help but scoff, pulling her hand back and distractedly missing the warmth. "Hardly. I've been making an utter fool out of myself here, while you've pretty much been the _definition_ of debonair."

"You're only saying that because you don't know how much practice and training I've had to do—how much Remus has had to _help_ me—to keep my cool. You pretty much turn my brain to mush."

"What?" Lily breathes, eyes a little wide and heart a little crazy.

James leans in then, a conspiratorial smile on his face and a glint in his hazel eyes that causes Lily to lean forward as well. "You're so pretty and smart that I'm honestly experiencing low self-confidence. And that never happens."

Lily snorts, an unlady-like noise that only seems to make James grin wider, and she feels her nerves settle. This is fine, easy, _comfortable_. She can do this. "It must be so hard to be you."

"Constant struggle, truly."

"Guess I'll need to thank Remus then."

"Guess you must," He sighs, "Now I have no choice but to contact you sooner."

"And what about Sirius?" Lily asks, because she's stupid and a masochist, and can't help it besides.

"You…want Sirius to contact you?"

"No, I mean, he wouldn't be too happy about you contacting me, would he?"

"Too observant for your own good, aren't you?" James chuckles, and then sighs as he thinks of how to phrase what he wants to say properly. After a pause, he continues, "Sirius is…complicated. He doesn't have anything against you or anything—no, _really_ , listen—he _doesn't_. He doesn't even know you! Sirius just dislikes people as a rule. Unlike most people who tend to be polite to each other unless something untoward happens, Sirius tends to hate on people until something grand happens."

"Grand?"

"Don't worry about it, Lily," James implores, "He'll come around. He's just idiotically protective of me."

"Oh," Lily realizes, her cheeks tingeing pink. "I see. But I won't—at least not _intentionally_ —"

"I know you harbor no malicious intent of hurting me, don't worry."

"As long as that's clear."

"Crystal."

Lily smiles, unable to repress the fondness on her face as she stares at his cheeky smirk and bright eyes. There's a proud lilt in the air surrounding him, one that Lily finds so unexpectedly attractive that it's nearly impossible for her to take her eyes off of him the entire night as he talks and eats and laughs and _exists._ He shares her weird obsession of olives, and spends fifteen minutes talking about its eccentric flavor and texture, and Lily thinks she might jump across the table right then, but controls herself. He even insists on paying the entire bill himself, but gives her none of the misogynistic crap when she remains stubborn. They end up splitting the cost, and Lily falls harder.

She worries that she's being consumed by it, this attraction, and has yet never felt more _alive_ , more liberated.

And at the end of the night when they exchange numbers and say their goodbyes—very _platonic_ ones, regardless of how much Lily wishes they weren't—she's certain more than ever that she needs to do this properly.

Because James Potter is a keeper.

* * *

 **A/N -** Come find me on Tumblr maraudersftw! And leave me some lovely reviews, you kind souls xoxo


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